Redemption
by Sasheenka
Summary: Shortly after the anime Ryuichi and Taki fell in love with each other against all odds. But Ryuichi doesn‘t know anything about Taki’s crime. What’s going to happen when he finds out? And what is Tohma going to do about their relationship?R


Title: Redemption

Author: Sasheenka

Rating: PG -13

Pairing: Ryuichi/Taki

Summary: Takes place right after the anime. Ryuichi and Taki fell in love with each other against all odds. But Ryuichi doesn't know anything about Taki's crime. What's going to happen when he finds out? And what is Tohma going to do about their relationship? RR!Rating will increase.

Disclaimer: THEY'RE MINE! No, just kidding. Ryu-chan, Taki and all the other characters belong to Maki Murakami.

A/N: Hey! Long time no see. I promise that all my fics will be eventually completed…I just need to catch the sneaky little runaway. You know – the plot bunny.

Chapter One

He was sitting on a bar with his head rested on his elbows; on the counter in front of him were several emptied liquor glasses. He looked ruined and lonesome. And that was precisely how he felt. Aizawa Taki was, shall we say, in deep shit and not even the seventh glass of whiskey managed to make his future look any better. Worst of all was that he brought it upon himself. He could blame many people for his current miserable state, but he knew that Seguchi Tohma, Yuki Eiri, and not even Shindo Shuichi made him do what he did. It was his fault alone. He didn't have the slightest idea about what to do. His life was a complete disaster, he had lost his job and although he had been forgiven by his friends, he was still feeling depressed for taking them down with him. But those who have never experienced this unmercifully burning jealousy can't even begin to imagine how it was. Taki Aizawa had never been the best at anything, despite it being his greatest wish. He wanted to be famous, admired and rich; on the top of the hit parade...He yearned to be the best. And maybe he would achieve it were it not for Bad Luck, and most of all for their singer, pink-haired Shuichi Shindo. The nineteen year old boy with a constant smile plastered to his face and a beautiful voice under any circumstances was Taki's biggest rival. Was. At the moment the only thing Taki could rival someone in was the number of emptied glasses. He was fully wrapped up in his gloomy thoughts, absolutely not aware of the world around him. He wouldn't even notice that someone had joined him at the bar, if the latter didn't accidentally hit him.

"Yey, I'm sorry." squealed young man, whose face was partially hidden under a dark blue baseball cap. "Are you hurt, na no da?"

Taki raised his tired eyes to see, who had given him the elbow, when the other man began to speak again.

"Are you alright?" He asked in a tone, as if he was afraid of whether his rash movement hadn't caused Taki some serious detriment.

"Not in the least, but that's none of your business." Taki said in a way, which patently said: leave me alone so I can dwell in my own angst.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" the young man wouldn't let Taki brush him off. He leaned closer to him and the pale light from the lamp above the bar showed his features clearly. Taki twitched slightly and he had to wonder how was it possible that his sensitive hearing hadn't been able to allocate face to the voice. Alcohol was for sure one of the main culprits.

In this beautiful almost boyish face, were flaming the brightest blue eyes you could imagine and Taki had no idea how long he stared into them, before their owner addressed him again.

"Are you really certain you don't need any help?" Blue eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Why would someone like you be interested?"

"Someone like me, Aizawa-kun?" His coincidental companion looked at him with a serious expression on his face and one slightly raised eyebrow.

When he heard his name Taki winced, although it was no surprise that the other man knew his name – they were in the same business and Taki was still relatively well-known– but compared to the man beside him he knew he was no one.

But the black-haired musician was in no mood for a conversation. It was a really bad idea to come here. He had hoped that the alcohol would diminish his problems or that he would be able to forget everything for awhile, but it never happened. His drunken mind was conjuring images of different past events and all those faces and voices were appearing and roaming around in his head. He could see Yuki Eiri beating the crap out of his friend and the latter with blood on his mouth holding his chest, because of broken ribs. He heard Shindo plead to let him be and even if he tried his best he couldn't dispel the memory about the way Seguchi smiled when he pushed Taki in front of an upcoming car. And then against his will he felt tears running down his cheeks in hot salty streams. He was not aware of where he was, not aware of who was sitting next to him. The only thing he was taking notice of was the pain, anxiety and fear he felt. At first he didn't even sense the touch of a foreign hand on his arm nor did he hear the words whispered to him by the other man in a calming voice. But Taki could not be calmed; It was because of all the whisky, and the tension and emotions kept long inside.

He didn't realize the touch was slowly turning into a hug.

After Sakuma Ryuichi jogged to the bar, he sat on the closest chair and ordered drinks for himself and his friends. And being his bouncy self he accidentally punched the man next to him with his elbow. Said person had his face buried in his hands and a bunch of glasses in front of him – he obviously wasn't in a good shape. Ryuichi immediately shot him an apology and that young man slowly raised his eyes to look at him. Big deep brown eyes. Ryuichi's heart skipped a few beats, but he immediately recovered and tried not to act as if he had fallen in love at first sight just a moment ago. He recognized him, it was Taki Aizawa from the band ASK. He heard their CD a few times and Taki's voice had intrigued him – it wasn't as clear as for example Shuichi's, but it held something very entrancing to Ryuichi. But although they were working under the same company until very recently, they had never met in person before.

'I wish I had my Kumagoro with me.' The blue-eyed singer sighed. His stuffed friend was always able to help him with advice or kind word in a difficult situation. But a club like this was not a good place for Kumagoro, so Ryuichi had left him at home, where the bunny awaited him on a pillow in his bed.

To his question Taki responded very grumpily and it was clear that he wasn't in the best disposition. Ryuichi had the feeling that something troubled him greatly. He had an odd look in his chocolate eyes as if he was drowning and desperately needed to take hold of something.

Ryuichi didn't let himself be chased away; He wanted to know what had made Taki so distressed.

He was aware of the fact that Taki knew who he was, because he wasn't trying to hide. He was just surprised by the other's reaction.

He stared at him for so long that Ryuichi thought something had to happen to Taki. Ryuichi saw that his companion wasn't in the mood for confessions. However he tried to make him speak one last time.

"Are you really certain you don't need any help?"

"Why would someone like you be interested?"

"Someone like me, Aizawa-kun?" Ryuichi felt insulted by Taki's words, but he sensed that something bad had happened to Taki and that's why he acts like this. When he thought about it, he didn't even know what had been behind the sudden halt of ASK's activities.

Ryuichi noticed how Taki jolted and then his face and eyes got this strange expression as if he was not aware of where he was. After a while of Taki's absent staring to nowhere in particular Ryuichi realized that the black-haired singer's cheeks were wet with tears. He took Taki's hand in his and started to speak to him in a low voice. He said all the usual nonsense everyone sometimes whispers. Most of all when you don't really believe that 'everything's going to be alright and you don't have to worry about it'.

"Taki..."

'Kumagoro would help Taki for sure.' Ryuichi sighed again after his faithful friend. But his beloved plushie was resting at home and Ryuichi had to decide what to do on his own.

He put his hands around Taki and let him cry. He stroked his hair and back and never stopped talking to him. He leaned towards him and drew some locks aside from face. He sensed that Taki had no idea what was happening and that wasn't really bad, because Ryuichi's fingers stayed on his face a lot longer than necessary.

And then Ryuichi did the first thing that occurred to him. He touched their lips together.

Taki heard Ryuichi's voice, but he was not able to recognize the words and had no idea what was being said to him. The voices and pictures in his head were slowly withdrawing and he was aware of the other's presence more and more. He noticed how dangerously close the older vocalist was and that his touches were bolder and more intimate than before. But he was too weakened by the alcohol and the anxiety he felt, that he was not able to make a move against it.

But in the end Ryuichi did something that made Taki react.

He kissed him.

When Taki felt those soft lips on his own, his very first instinct was to push the brunet away. But the feeling of Ryuichi's mouth on his was not unpleasant at all. On the contrary it was about the most enjoyable thing he felt in the past few weeks.

And so he kissed him back.

He had no idea about how long it had lasted. How long they had been kissing the hell out of each other on the bar where anyone could see. But because of how many people were in the club and how little light it provided the only one who probably noticed them was the barman standing not very far away.

When Ryuichi felt that Taki was returning the kiss he was startled, but didn't stop. He hoped he wouldn't have to, because he was afraid that the moment he backed away the charm would disappear. But the lack of oxygen in his lungs made him stop. He lowered his hands, that just a moment ago were buried in Taki's dark mane and with an averted gaze he whispered:

"I – I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize, Sakuma-san. I…never said, you did anything wrong."

"My name's Ryuichi." He looked up shyly and smiled, outstretching an open palm for Taki to squeeze.

"I'm Taki."

"So you're not angry, Taki?" Ryuichi glanced at him still somewhat timidly.

"About that...ahem...maybe we could try it again, if..."

Ryuichi didn't let Taki to end the sentence and joined their lips in another searing kiss, no less forceful then the previous one. At first their tongues battled for dominance, then played together in unison and for both Taki and Ryuichi existed nothing outside this moment. When the kiss ended they were both breathless. Ryuichi smiled at his companion who did so in return.

It was Taki's first smile of the week. It seemed to him as if all his worries and fears had fallen away. If he closed his eyes now, there would be no more haunting nightmares. He would see Ryuichi's heart-shaped face lined with brown hair, his smiling lips and bright gaze.

"Are you alone here?"

"Iie."Ryuichi made a guilty face. „I almost forgot. I came here with Tohma-kun, Shuichi a Yuki-san. I went to order the drinks and then I met you and..." The blue-eyed singer looked at his watch. „Oops...I might be a bit late, na no da."

When Taki heard the names of those accompanying Ryuichi, he became visibly paled. 'That's the worst luck anyone could have!' flashed through his mind. 'What if they saw me...' Taki didn't have to think twice about what Tohma Seguchi would do with him if he found him here with Ryuichi.

He looked around quickly and again cursed his unbelievable misfortune. Then he pulled a piece of paper and a pen out of his pocket and hastily doodled at it his phone number.

"Gotta go, Ryuichi. I really fancied meeting you. Call me any time." He said and in a blink of an eye he was gone.

Once Ryuichi told Taki, who was his company for the evening, there was no chance he wouldn't notice Taki's change of behavior. The younger singer paled and twitched, then looked around and before Ryuichi managed to get a hold of what's going on. Taki wrote him his number, said goodbye and disappeared

Ryuichi eyed the piece of paper for a while and then he pocketed it. Just as he pulled his hand out of his pocket Tohma came to his side.

TBC


End file.
